Shoe vamp construction



June 9, 1953 J. NAPPI 2,641,067

' SHOE VAMP CONSTRUCTION Filed May 26, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR C v BY 1 :r32 @MM A'ITORNEYS June 9, 1953 N P I 2,641,067

SHOE VAMP CONSTRUCTION Filed May 26, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 14 26 c' 1011? Pa] 22- fl g ATI'ORNEYS Patented June 9, 1953 SHOE VAMP CONSTRUCTION Joseph Nappi, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to La Marquise Footwear, Inc., a corporation of New York Application May 26, 1948, Serial No. 29,259

The present invention relates to footwear and while of wider application, has more especial utility for ladies and childrens shoes for dress and for sportwear.

As conducive to a clear understanding of the.

invention, it is noted that in the mass production of the slip lasted type of shoe, the open toe construction and the notched and stitched toe construction alone have heretofore been feasible because of the objectionable wrinkling incurredv in. bending the unnotched edge of the upper fabric to the shape of the closed-toe vamp, and this is especially true where the vamp is of leather lined with other fabric. Moreover, the slip lasted type of shoe has heretofore generally necessitated as an element of its construction, a thick platform which adds materially to the cost, renders the shoe comparatively stiff and also requires a side lasting shoe machine to pull and press in place the wrapper previously coated with cetacks after the cementing operation.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a new method and construction of shoe which avoids, on the one hand the wrapper pulling operation and the special side lasting equipment therefor required for the open toe slip lasted platform type shoe, and on the other hand avoids the use of the elaborate automatic tacking and tack removal shoe machinery required in the mass production of the platform less of welt or cement-lasted closed front type of shoe, and while thus wholly dispensing with costly specialized automatic shoe machinery, yet admits of rapid mass production of shoes of closed toe platformless type that are of neat, stylish and finished appearance, yet comfortable and sturdy in wear.

Another object is to provide a closed toe type of shoe upper and a method for fabricating the same by which the vamp may be preformed expeditiously and neatly without wrinkles and at low cost and without resort to specialized shoe machinery for the purpose, for ready connection to the sock-lining in the fabrication of slip-lasted shoes.

According to the invention in oneof its aspects,

the blank of leather or other fabric from which 2 Claims. (CI. 36-16) the upper is formed, with the usual curvature at the edge of its forward or vamp forming part, has aflixed to the under surface of said forward edge, a length of cord to apply and maintain tension along the length of said forward edge and thus to impart the required convexit or arch to the closed toe by a simple stitching operation performed by a conventional sewing machine that has been set to the required tension.

According to another feature, the preformed closed toe vamp is peripherally stitched about the sock-lining which latter is preferably prefabricated in a unitary structure with the midsole, to afford a flexible through sufficiently resistant thin fioor to permit a wrapper ribbon stitched about the upper, to be infolded without pulling tightly over the edge of such combination midsole and sock-lining and cemented thereunder. After slipping in the last, the heel combined with the usual shank, is then cemented in place followed by the cementing in place of the outsole.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one or more of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. l is a fragmentary perspective view of the laminated fabric for the combination midsole and sock-lining, illustrating the blanking of said sole therefrom,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the combination midsole and sock-lining stitched to the upper, with parts of the stitching opened,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the vamp end of the upper fabric,

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the vamp formed fromthe fabric of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the assembly of combination sole and upper with parts broken away, showing the mode of application of the wrapper,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the shoe prior to application of the heel and out-sole,

Fig. '7 is a view in longitudinal cross-section of the completed shoe on a larger scale with the sole end broken away,

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the completed shoe, and

Fig. 9 is a detail view on an enlarged scale showing a longitudinal cross-section taken on line 99 of Fig. 8.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4: of the drawings, the blank of leather, lined or unlined, or other fabric from which the upper is fashioned, and of the conventional shape, such as illustratively shown with astrap i5, is preferably converted into a preformed upper by stitching to the under face of the unnotched curved forward edge l6 thereof, as at 34, a thick and strong cord 35, preferably by resort to a conventional sewing machine that has been set with suitable tension, so that by virtue of said tension, the fabric of the upper is drawn inward somewhat, and accordingly the cord stitched in place is somewhat shorter than the length of the curved fabric edge of the upper blank along which it extends. As a consequence the vamp end 33 of the upper becomes preformed, inherentl to astume the desired convex or arched shape.

The lower rim of the vamp, preformed as above, is superposed over the rim of the socklining l and may be stitched thereto as at IT without twisting or deforming strain thereon even though the sock-lining be quite thin and flexible.

In the assembly thus far described, the raw edge of the upper and sock-lining are exposed to view in manner similar to the unfinished appearance of a stitched down type of shoe. These raw edges are concealed and a decorative finish imparted thereto by stitching a wrapper ribbon about the periphery of such assembly, folding it thereunder and cementing it in place.

Were the wrapper bound solely around the edge of the upper and the ordinary thin limber sock-lining, the structure might lack the stiffn'ess to withstand the compressive strain of binding and cementing the wrapper thereunder. Accordingly the sock-lining structure, though relatively thin, is made of construction sufficiently stiff to admit of such wrapper application. To this end, the sock-lining is provided with a stiffening floor unitary therewith, preferably by combining such sock-lining with a midsole. Desirably such combined sock-lining and midsole C (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the combination sole), has a core of paper or cardboard ll impregnated with rubber or the like with an under ply l2 of textile sheeting, the sock-lining being bonded to the upper face of said core. The laminated combination sole 0 is preferably blanked out as shown in Fig. 1, from three-ply laminated sheet material which comprises a core H of paper or cardboard or the like impregnated with rubber or rubber-like composition, backed by a ply (2 preferably of cotton sheeting, and having the superposed ply ll] of sock-lining material such as leather or other fabric, the three plies being cemented together under pressure and heat, desirably by the bonding action of the impregnant of the core. The combination sole C stamped out from the laminated fabric of Fig. 1, has desirably superposed over the heel end thereof a piece of leather l3 stitched in place as at [4 at its forward end and cemented in place over the rest of its area. The laminated combination sole is of small overall thickness, preferably .in the order of threethirty-seconds inch thick, flexes readily along its transverse mid-section in wear, but has sufficient stiffness against compressive .pressure across its width to withstand the pressure exerted in that direction in the application of the wrapper binding snugly thereabout.

In directly affixing the preformed arched vamp by stitching through the combination sole C, no twisting or deformation strain is exerted at the "forward part, even though the combination sole lacks the stiffness "to permit shaping the toe of an upper in the course of its assembly thereon. by the present invention the preforming or pre-shaping of the upper as a separate article of manufacture with its convexly arched closed toe, affords a means for direct attachment thereof to the sock-lining and preferably to the combination midsole and sock-lining, without the limitation to an open or seamed toe construction.

The wrapper, desirably a ribbon [8 of leather, imitation leather or other fabric of suitable finish or color, is stitched as at [9, under face outward at its edge, along and completely about the edge of the upper and combination sole, the stitches extending through both the upper and the combination sole as shown, whereupon the wrapper is reversely folded over the edge of the combination sole and its free border 20 is turned under the combination sole and cemented thereagainst, as best shown in Fig. 6. For this operation a conventional French folding machine performs the stitching of the wrapper, the folding and cementing thereof, all in one operation. This is sharply to be distinguished from the manufacture of the platform type of shoe in which the side lasting automatic shoe machine effects a pulling of a wrapper much wider than that used by applicant over a platform of considerable thickness to assure neat application, while the cementing of the wrapper requires a distinct operation.

The cord 35 acts somewhat as a backbone for reinforcing the vamp at its forward edge and the line of stitching I? by which the forward or vamp end of the upper is attached to the combination midsole and sock-lining preferably passes through cord 35, as does also stitch l9 that attaches wrapper I8, as shown in Fig. -9, thereby to afford enhanced strength at one of the most vulnerable portions of the shoe.

The sub-assembly, as shown in Fig. 6, in which the upper is connected to the combination sole, with the wrapper stitched in place at its upper edge and cemented in place at its inturned part, admits of the insertion of the usual last for shaping and holding the shoe preparatory to the final step of cementing in place the heel and the outsole in manner clearly understood but one preferred embodiment of which will be described below.

The heel piece 2l, desirably of wood, is fabric covered at its exposed thickness by a strip 22 of suitable fabric cemented thereunder at border 23 and thereover at border 24 and in an appropriate central cavity 25 in the upper face of said wooden heel piece there is afiixed the usual metal shank 25. This shank 26 is desirably stapled or riveted at 21 to a piece of .fiber 28 cemented in said cavity at 29. A piece of suitable cushioning felt 30 is cemented in said cavity of said heel piece and covers the root of the shank 26. The combination of heel and shank with its superposed cushioning felt is attached, as by cementing to the under face of the heel end of the combination sole C.

Desirably a cardboard blank 3! is adhesively secured to the under face of the heel piece to take up the thickness of the corresponding heel cover border 23 and finally the outsole 32, de-

sirably of leather, is cemented in place over the bottom of the heel piece and the midsole to complete the assembly. The final conventional steps are to trim the outsole, to set or round its edge and to ink and polish it.

The construction described affords a shoe of highly attractive appearance with no exposure to view of raw edges or stitch'es'and :is especially suitable for ladies and childrens dress wear and sportwear. The shoe is adapted for expeditious manufacture, the operations aside from the final steps of applying the conventional heel and outsole after slip-lasting, being those of stamping out fabrics, stitching with conventional sewing machine and stitching, folding and cementing the wrapper in. place by a conventional French folding machine, all without the need for any specialized automatic shoe machinery.

In outward appearance the shoe of the present invention is nearly the same as that made by the Compo welt 01' cement lasted process, with the only difference that instead of the welt finish there is a midsole bound with a decorative wrapper. The shoe of the present invention, while thus incorporating the advantages of sliplasting in the fabrication thereof, dispenses with the side lasting machinery heretofore required to draw the wide wrapper about the thick platform of such shoe, and while eliminating such platform, affords a closed toe vamp.

While the invention finds its preferred application to the closed type toe described, it will be understood that to meet the demands of style, the open toe type of vamp could be employed within the scope of the present invention, and the upper in such embodiment would of course be stitched to the combination sole in conventional manner without preforming of the vamp.

As many changes could be made in the above method and construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description Or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An article of footwear comprising a combination midsole and sock-lining, an upper comprising a piece of fabric curved at its forward end and having a non-elastic cord stitched at the under edge of said forward end to maintain said edge under tension and thereby form the convex vamp, said upper being stitched about its edge to the said combination sole, said stitch extending transversely through said cord, a wrapper stitched with its reverse face outermost about the periphery of the upper and the combination sole, said wrapper extending downward over and about the rim of said combination sole and having a border cemented under the latter, a heel having a shank cemented under said combination sole and an outsole cemented under said heel and the under face of said combination sole.

2. The combination recited in claim 1 in which the wrapper stitching traverses said cord.

JOSEPH NAPPI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 197,030 Gittens Nov. 13, 1877 268,141 Stevens Nov. 28, 1882 1,193,687 Holden Aug. 8, 1916 1,395,277 Holden Nov. 1, 1921 1,733,105 Tracy Oct, 22, 1929 1,769,449 Meltzer July 1, 1930 1,891,064 Simonovitz Dec. 13, 1932 2,106,676 Grien Jan. 25, 1936 2,219,697 Nickowitz Oct. 29, 1940 2,329,725 Mondl Sept. 21, 1943 2,359,896 Chandler Oct. 10, 1944 2,391,437 Moskowitz et al. Dec. 25, 1945 2,425,420 Chandler Aug. 12, 1947 2,435,337 Billingsley Feb. 3, 1948 2,439,431 Kaufman Apr. 13, 1948 2,445,847 Curtis July 27, 1948 2,486,995 Steed Nov. 1, 1949 2,495,590 Meltzer Jan. 24, 1950 

